Leech and the Golden Ball
by Kat Lee formerly Pirate Turner
Summary: Leech runs away from home to escape prejudice in an AU.


Title: "Leech and the Golden Ball"  
Author: Pirate Turner  
Rating: R  
Summary: Leech runs away from home to escape prejudice in an AU.  
Disclaimer: Leech; Artie; Callisto; Caliban; the Morlocks; and Generation X are © & TM Marvel Comics and are used without permission. All other characters and the idea this story is based on (it was originally based on a children's book) are © & TM their respective owners and are used without permission. Everything else is © & TM Pirate Turner.

It was Knights Corner, Massachusetts, where the young boy Leech lived, and not so very long ago.

Leech's town perched by the swift-flowing river in the valley and seemed to draw back from the high hills that stood to the north and west. The hills turned dark in the evenings and their purple shadows hid wolves and outlaws and other things it was better not to talk about. So the town did its business briskly in daytime and shut its gates at sunset. Then the flapping ravens would look down at the town with their black eyes and fly off home to tell the forest what had happened that day.

Leech lived with his mother in a tiny house by the north gate. Leech's mother was very protective of her son and kept him away from the other villagers. However, there was one other who knew of Leech and this was the local preacher, Brother Thomas. Brother Thomas taught the young boy to read and write in return for payment from Leech's mother.

Brother Thomas was a bad man who disliked anything and everything that was different from him and his beliefs. He called Leech nasty names. The worst of which was "Devil's spawn" and the nicest "freak". He even went as far as to beat Leech.

One afternoon, after a day of learning during which Brother Thomas beat Leech severely, Leech set off for home sore and angry, trying to figure out what he should do. One thing he knew for sure - he would never go back to the schoolroom. Never. No matter what. His anger swelled inside him.

Leech knew that he couldn't go back home, because he would never go back to the schoolroom. It wasn't that his mother would be angry with him but that she would say that she was sure Brother Thomas would forgive him if Leech apologized.

Leech kicked at a stone in the road and then stopped. A small, silky, green snake with a gold fishnet pattern on its scales lay in the hollow beneath the stone. Leech had never seen anything like it. The snake stared up at Leech before sliding smoothly away from the track. That was all it took for Leech to make up his mind. He would not go home at all. He would go elsewhere and live all by himself. Whatever happened he would never have to see Brother Thomas again.

Leech shortly came to a small stream. He knew which way he wanted to go - away from the town and Brother Thomas to freedom - and he went that way as fast as his little feet could carry him, hoping he wouldn't meet any people or wild animals.

Night fell fast. Leech was hungry, cold, and tired. He pulled his tiny coat tighter around his thin body and kept walking, looking for somewhere safe to sleep. He had not gone very far when he heard voices and saw a camp with a single fire. Dropping to his knees, Leech crawled closer to the camp and hid behind a bush. Peeping out of the bush, he saw that the people appeared poor and mean, like outlaws. There were very few children. Leech did spot one boy who appeared to be his age. The boy was sitting between a huge purple man and a tall white woman. The boy himself was eating what appeared to be roast hen and had pink skin. Leech looked down at his own green skin for a second, then looked back up at the people. His eyes met a pair of aged eyes. An old woman with gray hair caught him by his wrist. Leech struggled to get away, but the woman's grip was surprisingly strong.

Leech awoke to a scarred face. The tall woman who he had seen sitting next to the pink boy was looking down at him. He looked around at his surroundings. A crowd of strange-looking people was staring at him, whispering to each other. Among them, was the little boy and the purple man.

The woman held up a staff, and everybody instantly quieted down. She spoke in a serious tone, "I am Callisto, Queen of the Morlocks." She pointed the stick to the huge purple man who stood next to her, "This is Caliban, the King who rules by my side. Tell me how you came to spy on our camp tonight. I warn you not to lie for I can tell it if you do. The punishment for lying is quite harsh, young man, but you will not be harmed if you tell us the truth."

Leech gulped before answering, "Brother Thomas beat me for being different so I decided to run away from home. I was looking for a place to sleep when I came upon your camp."

Callisto nodded. "You speak the truth. What do they call you, little one?"

"Leech."

"You have a choice, Leech. You can either leave us and not remember a thing about meeting us or become a member of our group. What is your decision?"

"I'll stay," Leech replied immediately.

"Okay. Artie?"

The pink boy came up to Callisto, bowed, and looked up at Callisto.

"Show Leech to his room. He needs to sleep."

"First, ma'am, if you don't mind, could I have something to eat?" Leech spoke up.

"Certainly."

And so it was that Leech came to live with the Morlocks. Leech remained with them for quite awhile. He became friends with Artie and was liked by all the Morlocks. One day, Leech found a gold ball which he started to touch. Artie, who was with him, gave a squeak of terror, took Leech's hand, and shook his head furiously.

"What's wrong, Artie?" Leech asked, although he knew his friend was mute.

Just then, Annabel, the old woman he had met that first eventful night when he had came upon the Morlock's camp, appeared and said sternly, "Go play."

Leech didn't know why, but he couldn't work up the courage to question Annabel about the ball. Instead, he took Artie's hand and ran outside.

With each passing day, Leech's curiosity about the ball strengthened. One day, he could stand it no longer. He snuck away to where he had seen the ball, took it down and outside. He played with it for some time before Callisto caught him. She called her guards on him and snatched the ball away from him. The guards roughly picked up Leech and carried him away only to put him in his room and lock him there.

That night, a rock busted Leech's window. Two more rocks followed until the window was completely gone. A rope swung up and draped across the windowsill before pulling taunt. Leech dared to look out the window only to see Artie, signaling for him to climb down. Leech did.

When Leech reached Artie, he opened his mouth to talk, but Artie put his hand against Leech's mouth to keep him quiet. Slowly, Artie removed his hand, put his fingers to his nose, signaling for Leech to be quiet, and knelt down. Leech sat down on the ground beside Artie. Artie projected a picture of Leech and him sneaking out into the night and away from their home into Leech's mind.

"Why?" whispered Leech.

Artie responded with a picture of a woman and her house.

"My Mom?"

Artie nodded.

The two little boys snuck away into the night, headed for Leech's mother's house. They arrived there the next night and went straight in without knocking. Leech gasped. Both boys' eyes went wide. The house had been ransacked! Leech and Artie searched the house thoroughly, but there was no sign of Leech's mother. They stopped to rest on the back steps.

"Now what do we do?" wondered Leech. "We can't stay here."

Artie sent Leech an image of them traveling.

That's just what they did, too. One evening, the boys were awoken from their sleep (they had crawled into a wide hollow tree stump) by a deep voice, "What you doing here?"

The boys looked up to see Caliban. "I got into trouble, so we ran away."

"Shouldn't've played with golden ball."

"But it called to me."

"It call to Morlocks."

"You mean?"

Callisto appeared from behind a tree then. "He means that your rightful place is with the Morlocks. You were born to be a part of our group."

"But I wasn't born in your group."

"No, but that doesn't matter. The golden ball called to you."

"Will we be in trouble if we go back?"

"We're not going back."

"Why not?"

"Because we were found out."

"What happened?" asked Caliban.

"We are the only Morlocks left," Callisto stated simply.

"You mean -?"

Callisto nodded gravely. "Yes, the rest are dead."

"What we do?" wondered Caliban.

"We will leave and find a new home."

"Ms. Callisto?"

"Yes, Leech?"

"Do you know what happened to my Mom?"

"I'm afraid I do."

"Is she okay?"

"Yes."

"Can I go see her?"

"No."

"Why not?"

"Because she is in a different place far, far away from here."

"Is she happy?"

"Very."

Later, Caliban whispered to Callisto, "What really happened to friend-Leech's mother?"

"She's dead, Caliban" Callisto whispered back.

"How?"

"She accused Brother Thomas of kidnapping Leech, so he told the town that she was a witch to get even with her. They believed him and burnt the poor woman at the stake."

"Steak good, though." Caliban licked his lips.

"Not that kind of steak, Caliban."

"Oh."

Callisto looked at Caliban and then over to the two sleeping children. She missed her people and was greatly angry at their killers, but she was glad Caliban and she had survived and had found the children. She just hoped they would be okay. And that is how Leech, Artie, Callisto, and Caliban all survived the Morlock Massacre.

**The End**


End file.
